Loopy, gas jet bulked yarn and method



United States Patent 3,150,481 LUOlY, GAS JET BULKED YARN AND METHODEarl Bilsky and Lawrence R. Biake, Cumberland, Md, assignors to Celanese(Iorporation of America, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware NoDrawing. Filed Aug. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 831,721 12 Claims. (Cl. 57140)This invention relates to a method of obtaining an improved bulked yarn.

It is often necessary to apply a lubricating and conditioningcomposition to filaments, yarns, threads and the like in order to makethem more amenable to the various physical operations to which they aresubjected e.g. spinning, winding, weaving, knitting etc. The presence ofthe composition is intended among other things to reduce frictionbetween the yarn and the various pieces of apparatus with which it comesin contact, e.g. guides, rollers, and the like to prevent tearing of thefilaments and to minimize excessive attraction or repulsion of thefilaments caused by electrostatic charges.

Various yarn lubricating compositions have been developed for use onconventional yarns spun from staple fiber. While these compositions aremore or less satisfactory with these staple yarns, they often leavesomething to be desired when applied to bulked, textured, or voluminousyarns made, for example, from continuous multifilament yarns. The bulkedyarns may be formed by subjecting a continuous multifilament yarn orbundle to a turbulent stream of a compressible fluid such as air. Asdisclosed in application S. No. 356,349, filed May 23, 1953, now US.Patent 2,942,402, which corresponds to British Patent 790,911, and inPatent No. 2,783,609 of Breen, the bulking of yarn in this manner iscaused by the loops, whorls and convolutions formed by the interlockingof filaments in the surface and in the interior of the finished yarn.The quality of bulked yarn of this type depends to some extent on thenumber, uniformity and permanence of the filament loops which in turndepend on the static filament to filament friction properties, i.e. theability of separate filaments to lock to each other after the loops areformed. The permanence of the loops is particularly important in view ofthe tendency of the loops to pull out when the yarn is subjected to thenormal stresses of yarn and fabric-treating operations e.g. coning,weaving, knitting etc.

Other factors to be considered in the production of a loopy type ofbulked yarn are the efficiency of the operation as indicated by thenumber of doffs produced yielding 100% high quality bobbins, the degreeof adjustment of the jets required during the operations, uniformity ofbulking from jet to jet, the cover and hand of the fabric produced fromthe bulked yarn and the amount of unaccounted for variations in thedenier of the yarn produced. 1

It has been found that the foregoing factors are affected by the natureofthe lubricating compositions ap plied to the yarn before the bulkingoperation is carried out. In particular, the nature of the yarnlubricant may have an appreciable effect on the loss of bulkiness causedby the stresses to which the yarn may be subjected after bulking.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved bulked,voluminous, or textured yarn. It is a further object of this inventionto provide a bulked yarn which contains greater and more uniformloopiness and which loses a minimum of its loopiness when subjected tothe stresses associated with normal yarn-handling operations. It is astill further object of this invention to provide a more eflicientprocess for the production of continuous multifilament bulked yarn whichmay be Woven 3,150,481 Patented Sept. 29, 1964 or knitted into fabricshaving improved hand and cover. Further objects will become apparentfrom the following description of the invention.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention, a continuous filamentyarn or bundle which is intended to be bulked by causing loops, whorlsor convolutions to be formed among the filaments, is treated with alubricating composition comprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphaticcarboxylic acid, an alkanolamine, a sulfated fatty oil, and a sulfatedlong chain aliphatic carboxylic acid. It has been found that when acomposition of this type is present as lubricant in a yarn which isbulked by contacting it with a jet stream of a compressible fluid, e.g.air, the bulked yarn possesses greater and more uniform loopiness whichhas a greater tendency to remain after the yarn has been subjected toordinary stress than if other, conventional yarn lubricants are used.Moreover, the use of the lubricating composition of this inventionresults in greater efficiency of operation as indicated by the doifsproduced having 100% high quality bobbins, reduced need for jetadjustment, less variations of product when different jets are used,improved fabric cover and hand, and fewer unaccounted for variations inyarn denier.

The mineral oil in the lubricating composition of this invention is arefined parafiinic petroleum product and is present in the compositionin the range of 40 to by weight. It suitably has a viscosity at F. inthe range of about 50 to 100 Saybolt Universal seconds.

The long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid is preferably a liquid at roomtemperature and may suitably contain 8 to 18 carbon atoms. The acidmaybe monoethylenically unsaturated such as oleic, caproleic(9-decenoic), myristoleic (9-tetradecenoic), linderic (4-decenoic),palmitoleic (9-hexadecenoic) and petroselinic (6-octadecenoic) acids, orsaturated such as caprylic (octanoic) and pelargonic (nonanoic) acids.Oleic acid is preferred because of its general availability. The longchain aliphatic carboxylic acid may be present in the composition forexample in the range of 5 to 20% byweight of the composition.

The alkanolamine in the composition is preferably a lower alkanolaminee.g. in which the alkylol groups con- .nolamine and dimethylethanolamine. The alkanolamine may be present in'an amount of l to 10%.by weight of the composition.

The sulfated fatty oil and sulfated long chain aliphatic carboxylic acidin the composition may suitably be sulfated peanut oil and sulfatedoleic acid. Other sulfated fatty oils which may be used are sulfatedsoybean oil and sulfated corn oil and other sulfated acids which may beused are sulfated caproleic, sulfated myristoleic, sulfated linderic,sulfated palmitoleic and sulfated petroselinic acids. The sulfated fattyoils may be present in an amount of l to 10% and the sulfated acid to 1to 10% by weight of the composition. The sulfated fatty oil and sulfatedacid may be in the form of their alkali metal salts e.g. sodium salts.

The composition may also contain a polyhydric alcohol which ispreferably saturated and contains, for example, 5 to 8 carbon atoms.Some polyhydric alcohols which may be used are octylene glycol,2-ethyll,3-hexanediol, hexylene glycol, and pentanediol. The polyhydricalcohol may be replaced in whole or in part by a long chain monohydricalcohol which may suitably contain 11 to 18 carbon atoms. Somemonohydric alcohols which may be used are oleyl alcohol,2,6,8-trimethylnonanol-4, 2- butyl octanol, S-ethylnonanol-Z,7-ethyl-2-methylundec- U anol-4 and 3,9-diethyltridecanol-6. Thepolyhydric and/ or monohydric alcohol may suitably be present in a totalamount of 5 to 20% by weight of the composition.

An alkyl phenol such as ditertiary amyl phenol may also be present.Other alkyl phenols which may be used are ditertiary-butyl phenol,ditertiary butyl paracresol (butylated hydroxytoluene), and butylatedhydroxy anisole. The alkyl phenol may be present in amount of 0.01 to 5%by weight of the composition.

To obtain the sulfated components of the composition a mixture ofunsulfated oil and acid, diluted if necessary with mineral oil, may betreated with concentrated or fuming sulfuric acid while preventing thetemperature from reaching too high a level. The mixture may then beneutralized with an alkali such as caustic, dehydrated under vacuum, andseparated from the salt formed during the neutralization. Thedehydrated, desalted composition may then be mixed with desiredquantities of the other components to obtain the finished lubricant. Ifdesired, the suifated mixture may be mixed with a further quantity ofmineral oil and a small amount of a long chain monohydric alcohol priorto separation of the salt. If an alkyl phenol is used, it may be addedto the enlisted mixture after neutralization but before dehydration.

Since the long chain acid and the alkanolamine form an organic soap whenthe final composition is prepared, a preformed soap made from thesematerials may be added in lieu of all or part of the separatecomponents.

In carrying out the process of this invention the lubricatingcomposition described above is preferably applied to a continuousmultifilament yarn or untwisted bundle before bulking. The lubricatedbundle is then bulked by contacting it with a turbulent stream of acompressible fluid e.g. air from a jet in a manner described for examplein application S. No. 356,349, filed May 23, 1953, or in Patent No.2,783,609 of Breen. The lubricating composition may also be appliedafter the yarn is bulked to improve the ability of the bulked yarn toretain its loopiness under stress.

The jetted fluid which travels lengthwise in the direction or" themovement of the filament causes transverse loops, whorls etc. to formalong the length of the filament bundle. The filaments are then furthertreated egg. by twisting to form a bulked yarn. As disclosed inapplication S. No. 356,349 the jet outlet is preferably offset from thepath of the jet inlet through which the filament bundle enters.

The process of the invention is applicable to continuous filament yarnmade from a wide variety of materials, for example organic derivativesof cellulose e.g. cellulose esters such as cellulose acetate, cellulosepropionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose acetate-propionate, andcellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose ethers such as ethyl cellulose andbenzyl cellulose, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate,polyamides such as polyhexamethylene adipamide and regeneratedcellulose. The process is particularly advantageous in the production ofbulked yarn of cellulose acetate. The supply yarns or filament bundlestreated may suitably have a denier of 200 to 4800 with a denier perfilament of 1.9 to 20. It may be substantially untwisted prior to beingcontacted with the jet stream of fluid, or may contain up to 20 turnsper inch and possibly greater. During or after the bulking operation theyarns may suitably be further twisted in an amount up to 25 additionalturns per inch. The amount of lubricating composition in the yarn maysuitably be in the range of 0.25 to 10.0 percent by weight of the yarnor filament bundle.

A lubricating composition under this invention was prepared as follows:

A mixture of 65 gallons of paraffinic mineral oil having a viscosity at100 F. of 50 Saybolt Universal seconds, 22.5 gallons of refined peanutoil and 47.7 gallons of oleic acid was cooled to 5 to 8 C., 108 poundsof fuming sulfuric acid containing 20% by weight of 80;, were added overa 30 minute period, holding the temperature at a maximum of 20 C., afterwhich the mixture was stirred for an additional 45 minutes. An aqueoussolution of 50% by weight of sodium hydroxide in an amount of 150 poundswas added and after the neutralization was complete, 10.9 gallons ofditertiary amyl phenyl were added. The mixture was then stirred for anadditional 15 minutes and subsequently dehydrated under vacuum. To thedehydrated mixture were added 289 gallons of mineral oil and 58 poundsof oleyl alcohol. The resulting composition was kept in a settling tankfor 3 to 4 days after which the supernatant liquid was decanted andfiltered to remove the last traces of sodium sulfate.

The above composition was composed essentially of by weight mineral oil,5% by weight of the sodium salt of sulfated peanut oil, 12% by weight ofthe sodium salt of sulfated oleic acid and 3% by weight of ditertiaryamyl phenol. It was mixed in an amount of 8.33 parts by weight with66.67 parts by weight of white mineral oil having a viscosity at F. of50 Saybolt Universal seconds, 12.92 parts by weight of oleic acid, 8.33parts by weight of 2-ethylhexanediol-1,3. The resulting finishedcomposition is designated as Lubricant A.

The performance of Lubricant A in connection with bulked yarn wascompared with three standard mineral oil-based textile lubricatingcompositions conventionally used on cellulose acetate and designated asLubricants B, C, and D.

Each lubricant was tested in an identical manner by applying it to acellulose acetate yarn of about 200 denier, filaments and having a twistof 0.15 turn per inch. The yarn was further twisted to 5.5 turns perinch prior to bulking after which it was bulked in apparatus such asthat described in application S. No. 356,349 using a yarn inlet orificesize of 0.029 inch and a yarn outlet orifice size of 0.052 inch, thecenter of the outlet being offset by 0.010 inch of the center of thetube through which the yarn passed. Air was supplied at 26 p.s.i.g. andthe yarn entered the jet at a rate of 66 yards per minute. The yarn wasbulked while twisting to a total of 7.5 turns per inch.

In testing the results of the bulking of yarns containing difierentlubricants it may be assumed that variations in denier of the supply orparent yarn, would affect the denier of the bulked yarn. To account forthese variations, the bulked yarn was characterized in terms ofBulkability defined in terms of the supply yarn as follows:

Percent Bulkability: (Bulked yarn denier before drawdown minus Supplyyarn denier) X 100 divided by Supply yarn denier The yarns containingthe different lubricants were bulked using three different rates ofoverfeed, defined as the percent by which the velocity of the yarnentering the jet is greater than the leaving the jet. The denier of thebulked yarn was measured without subjecting the yarn to any appreciabledegree of tension. Results are shown in Table I. Each of the denier andbulkability figUI6S IBPIBSBRYS an average of ten samples.

Table 1 Amount Percent Bulkabillty at of Lubri- Supply Different Ratesof Overiced Lubricant eaut 011 Yarn Yarn, Per- Denier cent W. 23.0%25.0% 31.0%

It can be seen from the results in Table I that the use of Lubricant Aresulted in bulked yarn of superior bulkability at all rates ofoverfeed, despite the fact that a smaller amount of Lubricant A was usedthan of the other lubricants.

As an indication of the ability of yarns bulked with the differentlubricants to retain their bulkiness after being subjected to normalprocessing tension, the yarns containing the different lubricants werebulked under identical conditions using 23% overfeed as shown in Table Iand were drawn down in the conventional manner using processing tensionswhich were varied by means of different traveler sizes. The deniersafter draw-down were then determined and the results expressed in termsof non-bulkstability defined as follows:

Percent Non-Bulksta-bility Bulked yarn denier before draw-down -Bulkedyarn denier after draw-down Bulked yarn denier before draw-down Resultsare shown in Table II. Each of the nonbulkstability figures representsan average of ten samples.

It can be seen from Table II that yarns bulked with Lubricant A of thisinvention'had substantially lower values of percent non-bulkstabilityafter being drawn down at all levels of processing tension than yarnsbulked with the other lubricants.

Further tests were carried out on two large sample lots of the samecellulose acetate yarn tested above and bulked in the same manner using20% overfeed. One sample contained 1% of Lubricant A before bulking andthe other sample contained 2% of the same lubricant. Denierdeterminations of 267 samples of the bulked yarn containing 1% LubricantA yielded an average denier of 225 with standard denier deviation of2.1. Similar determinations of the denier of 240 samples of the yarncontaining 2% of Lubricant A yielded an average denier of 224 with astandard denier deviation of 2.1. Thus yarns lubricated with Lubricant Ashowed excellent denier control and moreover were significantly moreuniform than yarns containing other lubricants. The low and fairlyconstant denier deviation obtained with yarns from both lots were muchsuperior to the deviation when the yarn was treated with otherlubricants. In addition, both lots yielded an increased number of doifscontaining 100% high quality bobbins. Finally, when yarns from each lotwere woven, the resulting fabrics had superior cover and uniformity.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is givenmerely by way of illustration and that many variations may be madetherein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. A loopy, gas jet bulked continuous multifilament yarn containing alubricating composition comprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphaticcarboxylic acid, an alkanolamine, a sulfated fatty oil and a sulfated,long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, said lubricating compositionhaving been applied prior to bulking and serving to yarn containing alubricating composition comprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphaticcarboxylic acid, a member of the group consisting of polyhydricalcohols, long chain monohydric alcohols and mixtures thereof, analkanolamine, and alkylphenol, a sulfated fatty oil and a sulfated longchain aliphatic carboxylic acid, said lubricating composition havingbeen applied prior to bulking and serving to retain the bulk of saidyarn when it is subjected to tension.

4. A loopy, gas jet bulked continuous multifilament yarn of celluloseacetate having transverse loops containing a lubricating compositioncomprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, amember of the group consisting of polyhydric alcohols, long chainmonohydric alcohols and mixtures thereof, an alkanolamine, an alkylphenol, and a desalted and dehydrated reaction product of sulfuric acidwith a mixture of a fatty oil and a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acidneutralized with an alkali, said lubricating composition having beenapplied prior to bulking and serving to retain the bulk of said yarnwhen it is subjected to tension.

5. A loopy, gas jet bulked continuous multifilament yarn of celluloseacetate having transverse loops containing a lublicatiug compositioncomprising 40 to percent by weight of a mineral oil, 5 to 20 percent byweight of a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, 1 to 10 percent byweight of an alkanolamine, l to 10 percent by weight of a sulfated fattyoil and 1 to 10 percent by weight of a sulfated long chain aliphaticcarboxylic acid, said lubricating composition having been applied priorto bulking and serving to retain the bulk of said yarn when it issubjected to tension.

6. A loopy, gas jet bulked continuous multifilament yarn of celluloseacetate having transverse loops containing a lubricating compositioncomprising 40 to 85 percent by weight of a mineral oil, 5 to 20 percentby weight of a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, 5 to 20 percent byweight of a member of the group constisting of polyhydric alcohols, longchain monohydric alcohols and mixtures thereof, 1 to 10 percent byweight of an alkanolamine, 0.1 to 5 percent by weight of an alkylphenol, 1 to 10 percent by weight of a suliated fatty oil and 1 to 10percent by weight of a sulfated long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid,said lubricating composition having been applied prior to bulking andserving to retain the bulk of said yarn when it is subjected to tension.

7. A process for the production of loopy, gas jet bulked yarn whichcomprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarn a lubricatingcomposition comprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphatic carboxylicacid, an alkanolamine, a sulfated fatty oil, and a sulfated long chainaliphatic carboxylic acid, and subjecting said lubricated yarn to aturbulent stream of a compressible fluid, thereby producing a yarnhaving loops, said loops being resistant to pulling out when subjectedto tension.

8. A process for the production of loopy, gas jet bulked yarn whichcomprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarn a lubricatingcomposition comprising a mineral oil, a long chain aliphatic carboxylicacid, a member of the group consisting of polyhydric alcohols, longchain monohydric alcohols and mixtures thereof, an alkanolamine, analkyl phenol, a sulfated fatty oil, and a sulfated long chain aliphaticcarboxylic acid, and

subjecting said lubricated yarn to a turbulent stream of a compressiblefluid, thereby producing a yarn having loops, said loops being resistantto pulling out when subjected to tension.

9. A process for the production of a loopy, gas jet bulked celluloseacetate yarn which comprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarnof cellulose acetate a lubricating composition comprising a mineral oil,a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, a member of the group consistingof polyhydric alcohols, long chain monohydric alcohols and mixturesthereof, an alkanolamine, an alkylphenol, a sulfated fatty oil, and asulfated long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid and contacting thelubricated yarn with a turbulent stream of a compressible fluid, therebyproducing a yarn having loops, said loops be ing resistant to pullingout when subjected to tension.

10. A process for the production of a loopy, gas jet bulked celluloseacetate yarn which comprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarnof cellulose acetate alubrieating composition comprising a mineral oil,a long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, a member of the group consistingof polyhydric alcohols, long chain monohydric alcohols and mixturesthereof, an alkanolamine, an alkylphenol, and a desalted and dehydratedreaction product of sulfuric acid with a mixture of a long chainaliphatic carboxylic acid and a fatty oil neutralized with an alkali,and contacting the lubricating yarn with a turbulent stream of air toform transverse loops along the length of said yarn, said loops beingresistant to pulling out when subjected to tension.

11. A process for the production of a loopy, gas jet bulked celluloseacetate yarn which comprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarnof cellulose acetate a lubricating composition comprising 40 to 85percent by weight of a mineral oil, to 20 percent by weight of a longchain aliphatic carboxylic acid, 1 to percent by weight of an alkanolamine, 1 to 10 percent by weight of a sulfated fatty oil and 1 to 10percent by weight of a sulfated long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid,and contacting the lubricated yarn with a jetted turbulent L) stream ofair to form transverse loops along the length of said yarn, said loopsbeing resistant to pulling out when subjected to tension.

12. A process for the production of a loopy, gas jet bulked celluloseacetate yarn which comprises applying to a continuous multifilament yarnof cellulose acetate a lubricating composition comprising to percent byweight of a mineral oil, 5 to 20 percent by weight of a long chainaliphatic carboxylic acid, 5 to 20 percent by weight of a member of thegroup consisting of polyhydric alcohols, long chain monohydric alcoholsand mixtures thereof, 1 to 10 percent by Weight of an alkanol amine,0.01 to 5 percent by Weight of an alkyl phenol, 1 to 10 percent byweight of a sulfated fatty oil and 1 to 10 percent by weight of asulfated long chain aliphatic carboxylic acid, and contacting thelubricated yarn with a jetted turbulent stream of air to form transverseloops along the length of said yarn, said loops being resistant topulling out when subjected to tension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,091,454 Reynier Aug. 31, 1937 2,250,914 Jacobsberg July 29, 19412,297,135 Davis Sept. 29, 1942 2,406,407 Schiessler Aug. 27, 19462,436,980 Standley et a1 Mar. 2, 1948 2,564,768 Seymour et al. Aug. 21,1951 2,575,838 Rainard Nov. 20, 1951 2,715,309 Rosenstein et al Aug. 16,1955 2,807,862 Griset Oct. 1, 1957 2,807,864 Head Oct. 1, 1957 2,869,967Breen Jan. 20, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 458,881 Canada Aug. 9, 1949 OTHERREFERENCES Union Carbide, Physical Properties of Synthetic OrganicChemicals, 1953 edition, page 4 of interest only.

1. A LOOPY, GAS JET BULKED CONTINUOUS MULTIFILAMENT YARN CONSISTING A LUBRICATING COMPOSITION COMPRISING A MINERAL OIL, A LONG CHAIN ALIPHATIC CARBOXYLIC ACID, AN ALKANOLAMINE, A SULFATED FATTY OIL AND A SULFATED, LONG CHAIN ALIPHATIC CARBOXYLIC ACID, SAID LUBRICATING COMPOSITION HAVING BEEN APPLIED PRIOR TO BULKING AND SERVING TO RETAIN THE BULK OF SAID YARN WHEN IT IS SUBJECTED TO TENSION. 